The Marketing Behind Pokémon GO: It Was Us
Originally published at linkedin.com on July 13, 2016.
Without a doubt, your news feed has been flooded with Pokémon GO posts since the app’s debut in Australia on July 6th. Nintendo’s pocket monsters franchise — along with Niantic — resurrected the nostalgia in all of us and led to people traveling across the land, searching far and wide for the fantastic creatures.
But why is it that the app is suddenly dominating social media?
Building Hype Through Disbelief And Videos
The fans. Pokémon enthusiasts all around the internet have been hyping the game since its beginnings, and just like any other product, when it is finally released, fans tend to blow it into mainstream media.
If you have been following the project since the beginning, then you are dating back to 2014, when Google announced the project as “Pokémon Challenge”.
But as seen in the video, fans were quickly disappointed with the video’s release date being too close to April Fools. The final product was nothing like their video — it was an adventure of dragging your way through Google Maps and clicking on the Pokémon sprite once you located it. Winners of said challenge, however, were then mailed a Pokémon Master title certification for their completion of the challenge.
For a year and a half The Pokémon Company revealed no further info, until they held an announcement event on September 10, 2015, releasing only two screenshots of what the game would look like outside its video edits.
The Marketing Team: Super Bowl 50 Production
Five months later, The Pokémon Company released their Super Bowl commercial two weeks before the game, aimed to celebrate its 20th anniversary as well as to hint at their upcoming mobile game to the mass audience.
While the $5 million, 30 second ad was not specifically meant to advertise its upcoming games, nearly 111.9 million viewers tuned-in for Super Bowl 50 and Pokémon’s presence on the list for the halftime commercials generated media coverage.
Pokémon Trainers And Their User Generated Content
While their video production team has gotten their promotional ground very well covered, why are we still seeing Pokémon posts on our news feeds?
If you have spent any time playing the new app that will soon surpass Twitter’s active user count, you will notice its key features are augmented reality, geolocation, and a recognizable franchise. All these are perfect tools for their users to create unimaginable and humorous content that will provide The Pokémon Company with free marketing — as we have seen.
Augmented Reality: There Are Pokémon Around You
Perhaps Pokémon GO’s most advantageous feature is its ability to bring the beloved creatures into our world through a camera lens. Aside from allowing you to encounter Pokémon on your current setting, the app has a “Picture Mode” which allows its users to capture Pokémon in peculiar settings or pose with them.
Some backgrounds, however, have not been the best for pictures, as shown in Mashable’s The 15 weirdest places people have caught’em all in ‘Pokémon Go’.
Regardless, users are keen to capture their travels and share them in their social media accounts, which makes up the majority of Pokémon GO UGC.
Geolocation: Pokéstops and Pokémon GYMs
Given that Niantic, the developer software behind Pokémon GO, utilizes Google Maps, many private properties and businesses have found themselves listed as Pokéstops or Pokémon GYMs, which are destinations for Pokémon trainers to obtain in-game items or hold a team base, respectively.
Some businesses have taken advantage of the social media craze and joined in on the adventure, utilizing the relevance of the app to increase store visits.
A Beloved Franchise For All Ages
For now, Niantic has chosen to release the app with the first generation of Pokémon, bringing in old fans of the series by the nostalgia factor. Users of all ages have been utilizing the new app: teens record their parents determined to catch them all, drivers increase their UBER clientele by driving trainers to Pokéstops, and countless seek conversation, and even romance, all thanks to the conversation and adventure created by Pokémon GO.
What Can My Brand Learn From This?
Pokémon created an app that allows their fan base to fill the world’s streets with Pokémon. Simultaneously, it lets users play and create content with the tools that they have provided: a camera that can bring the pocket monsters to life, geolocation to add fantasy creatures to everyday locations, and a franchise that many grew up being enthusiastic about.
Outside of the promotional videos, The Pokémon Company social media accounts have not created any extraordinary posts that have gone viral — they do not need to. Their users are curating content daily, publishers are covering the UGC, and their world-wide release is yet to debut (Only Australia, New Zealand, and the United states have access to the game, from blog post).
To create a campaign as effective as theirs, you do not need to build an app, but a strategy that utilizes the tools your followers already have: a camera, ease of curating content, and a prompt with which followers can identify with.
What is your stance on #PokémonGO? Have you tried it? Why or why not? If you have utilized the application, have you found yourself sharing your travels with others? Share below!
Got any thoughts to add? Tweet me @juliangumbo or comment below!
Julian Gamboa is a UC Berkeley graduate with a focus on marketing. Julian was selected as a LinkedIn Top Voice for Marketing and #Social Media (2017) and a Course Instructor of the marketing and digital publishing course Digital Marketing Today at the Haas School of Business. He is also the founder of Digiviewpoint, a millennial publishing account.
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